If he is going to be her he needs to play in the top 6 with either Pav or Z. Im tired of having Pav and Z playing with older players with suspect top 6 ability. If Huds is here start the season with him playing with Z and Clears and have Pav with Fil and Franzen. If Hudler still struggles then something needs to be done. But we need to have 2 really skilled dominant lines. I may get flamed for this post, but I do honestly believe Huds has the ability to be a gamebreaker (especially if he worked on his skating, and you know actually worked hard). But I honestly do believe he would work hard playing with skilled guys like Z and Clears

Bleacher Report - After a long, frustrating search, Brian Burke has finally got his man. After unsuccessfully attempting to lure Brad Richards to the Blue and White and missing out on a trade that would have seen Paul Stastny as the newest Leaf, Burke landed playmaking extrodinaire and Stanley Cup Champion Jiri "Adam Oates" Hudler. Hudler is expected to play on the top unit and be the playmaking center to the dynamic offensive Juggernaut that is the Phil Kessel Show. Phil, being much more valueable than three high draft picks and certainly Tyler Seguin, has been attacked falsely by the elitist "majority of common sense hockey people" for being an underachieving, streaky, one dimensional hockey player. Burke's new acquisition couldn't be much farther from those things. Hudler, whose passionate play and crunching body checks are feared by many, should complete a dynamic offensive duo rivaled only by the Sedin Twins and Heidi & Spencerô.

In defence of the trade, Burke stated that greatness comes at a price. He believes James Reimer, the Leafs 2012 first round pick, and 17% percent stake in the Leafs in a drop in the hat compared to Hudler's experiance and elite "vision". Burke stated, with a sense of accomplishment, "Ken Holland is the one who believes you don't need a great goalie or high draft picks to win, I'm just trying to follow his lead." He went on to say, "The loss of Reimer hurts but Hudler's tenacious backchecking should cover the difference between Reimer's play and our replacemen's,, Norm Maracle."

I think he deserves another shot everyone has a down year look how many people wanted cleary gone after last year or Datsyuk traded in 05'06 because he never produced in playoffs. I was down on him alot this year but I dont think he just forgot how to score.

I wouldn't mind giving Hudler one more season in his current contract, we know he can score and produce in specific situations, power play etc. and to be honest the last two playoff games I don't think he was that bad but like pretty much everybody else here I would not be against trading him if an opportunity presents itself because he isn't going to get the time to round out his defensive game here. Fair or not, Detroit has often had the depth to where Hudler didn't get top-line minutes consistently and I don't see that changing next season.

Hudler's fan club need not respond to this with a Hudler isn't being treated fair rant or nothing is Jiri Hudler's fault schtick because we are not going to agree on that.

If he is going to be her he needs to play in the top 6 with either Pav or Z. Im tired of having Pav and Z playing with older players with suspect top 6 ability. If Huds is here start the season with him playing with Z and Clears and have Pav with Fil and Franzen. If Hudler still struggles then something needs to be done. But we need to have 2 really skilled dominant lines. I may get flamed for this post, but I do honestly believe Huds has the ability to be a gamebreaker (especially if he worked on his skating, and you know actually worked hard). But I honestly do believe he would work hard playing with skilled guys like Z and Clears

I like a top 6 of Dats, Z, Mule, Fil, Cleary, and Hudler. You can argue and say what you will and use some stats from this year, but this top six is a hell of a lot better than Dats, Z, Mule, Homer, Bert, and Clears. If you dont think so your crazy. And you can counter by saying well then our third bottem six has bad depth and looks for 3rd and 4th lines. That is exactly the problem with Holmstrom. Holmer absolutely kills our line combos cause he can't play in the bottom six cause he is slow, and bad defensively. But he also isn't good in the top six cause he slows down a guy like Datsyuk. If you gave me an option of having a line of Mule-Datsyuk-Huds or those two and Homer instead of Huds ill take the line with Huds 10 out of ten. He has the skill and the ability to play with top end players and absolutely rip it up.

a big simple problem with this team is Holmstrom as he affects the way we can put together our lines, as Babs refuses to split up Dats and Homer, and have Homer as a scratch. Honestly I am not a Homer hater i honestly really like the guy its just hard for him to fit in 5 on 5 as he brings down our top lines, and takes energy out of our bottom six players. Yes you can say well stick him on 4th line and make him a specialist, but the problem is that this team has the ability to have a 4th line of Mursak-Helm-Eaves and honestly I cannot say there is a better 4th line in hockey and you'd be crazy not to want to keep them as a 4th lines. I know it is very unrealistic and is NOT going to happen but if the Wings are able and willing to make Homer there 13th forward this team can be a serious force.

You do this and sign Vernon Fiddler or Brooks Laich. Laich preferably although he will cost more. You spend the rest of the cap space to shore up the d-fence i'm not going to go into specific players as i'm only looking at the forwards.

You run these lines and you will be successful.....

Fil- Dats- Mule... This line would absolutely dominate as Fil and Dats work there magic and Mule finishes. (They will have the puck all shift... Seriously)

Huds-Z-Cleary... This is a very strong second line that posseses skill and awesome hockey IQ as well as some grit and speed with Cleary. (We all know how good Z is controlling the puck in the corners and down low, he can find Huds and Huds does have a good shot)

Bert- Laich or Fiddler- Abby... This line posses speed and size and the ability to grind it out. With Fiddler you have a good defensive forward and a good faceoff man (something we lacked vs San Jose). Laich provides more offense, but still is a very good 2-way forward. You add Bert and Abby to this and you have a big line that can grind you down low and has the ability to pich in with some offense.

Mursak-Helm-Eaves... All i can say is NIGHTMARE. Plain and simple this is an awesome line.

As well if there needs to be a shake up within the top six I feel that the wingers between both Datsyuk and Z can be switched. So im perfectly happy with it being the lines above or Huds-Dats-Cleary and Fil-Z-Mule. Either way i feel that is a very good group of forwards. Sorry for the rant. Add your suggestions good or bad. Thanks LGW

Honestly yes of course it had a lot to do with those two, but you can say that with a almost any top six forward. To be good you need players around you, except for maybe a few (Dats, Crosby, maybe OV). Anyways what im trying to say is that Hudler has great skill, but he is not a "I'm gonna dangle the whole team and score" type player. He's a player that is very good when he plays with other good players. So why on earth would you put him with two guys like miller and Abby? Of course he wont do anything he isn't that type of player. So what im saying is okay if you dont want him playing in the top six with our best players then we need to get rid of him because he will be useless, but if you play him with are best players he will earn his money. IMO opinion if he plays with either Dats or Z all year he will be a steal at 2.85 per. (I know i may get flamed for that last comment which is understandable for his play at the end. This is just the way I view Happy Hudler)

He played 11 games with Datsyuk and Cleary, and led the team in scoring during that period. His offense was on pace for 105 points.

In the first 30 games of the season, he was not very effective. But he also was playing with Modano, who at almost no point this season has been effective, and whose play style does not work with Hudler's play style. One works on rushing and a quick shot, the other works on setting up an offense and trying to find or create a hole in the defense.

Hudler scored 12 points in 17 games before he played with Datsyuk. This isn't "no points in all games not played alongside Pavel Datsyuk" but rather that he was already doing well and then started doing much better when placed with Datsyuk, proving the idea that he could excel on the first line.

"I've never seen a warlock do that without his magic.""I once devoured a monk's soul. It tasted like chocolate."

Mike Modano? Hello? Modano made nearly $2m and outside of a stretch of seven or 8 games this season played at an AHL level. Modano was the worst forward to play for the Wings this season, including call-ups, and the worst by salary.

As for the playoffs, Hudler had an excellent first-round. In the second round, he wasn't as good but Filppula was no better through the first few games. And Hudler played very well in the last couple of games. It was brought up that he was a minus in games six and seven. In game six, it's because he was tying up the guy going to the net and then diving into the net to try and stop the puck that Howard couldn't hold on to. In game seven, he was on the ice for Couture's goal, which Howard should have been set and ready to react to but wasn't, and Zetterberg handed an open Couture the puck on a clearing attempt. Clearly that's all Hudler's fault. Just more examples of how plus-minus is not actually representative of the player's performance.

Hudler was skating in a straight line; Cleary skated into him when trying to cut back towards the center of the ice.

As for Filppula having greater offensive capability... just no. Flip is better defensively and a better skater, he might be a better player...but he is not better offensively. Not even close. It's like Ron Francis and Adam Oates.

Filppula is at the very least a level above Hudler. Look at it this way: Would other teams make a trade for Filppula? Hell yes - would probably get back a decent player of the same caliber in return. If Filppula was a UFA would he get better offers from around the league than what the Wings pay him? Most likely. On the contrary, I don't think any team would trade much if anything for Hudler, and he would command very little on the open market. There's not much of a comparison to make - Flip is easily a 2nd line player, Huds is 3rd, 4th line, or a scratch....

He played 11 games with Datsyuk and Cleary, and led the team in scoring during that period. His offense was on pace for 105 points.

In the first 30 games of the season, he was not very effective. But he also was playing with Modano, who at almost no point this season has been effective, and whose play style does not work with Hudler's play style. One works on rushing and a quick shot, the other works on setting up an offense and trying to find or create a hole in the defense.

Hudler scored 12 points in 17 games before he played with Datsyuk. This isn't "no points in all games not played alongside Pavel Datsyuk" but rather that he was already doing well and then started doing much better when placed with Datsyuk, proving the idea that he could excel on the first line.

Whats your opinion of the top six below compared to the top six we used this year?

Whats your opinion of the top six below compared to the top six we used this year?

Fil-Dats-FranzenHuds-Z-Cleary

or

Huds-Dats-ClearyFil-Z-Franzen

I like the look, except for the fact that as mentioned earlier, Holmstrom breaks the bottom six. Assuming we lose Draper, Modano, and Miller and gain Mursak and Emmerton, these are the lines I would roll.